Vlad III Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler, was a 15th century ruler of Wallachia who defended the region against Ottoman invasion. He was known for his brutal tactics, such as impaling his enemies. While seen as a national hero in Romania for resisting foreign occupation, he also gained an infamous reputation abroad that inspired Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, which portrayed him as a vampire. Nowadays, Dracula is an iconic figure who draws tourists to Romania interested in vampire folklore, though his historical legacy remains complex.

1. DRACULA WAS A HERO?
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2. Vlad III Dracula, better known as
Vlad the Impaler (Tepes), was a member of
the House of Draculesti, a branch of the
House of Basarab. Vlad III was born in late
1431 in Sighisoara, a city in Transylvania,
Kingdom of Hungary, where he is a folk hero
to the locals.
A huge bust of Vlad III sits on a high
pedestal just outside the city hall. His father's
surname, Dracul, was bestowed upon Vlad II
when he was inducted into the Order of the
Dragon. Dracul is the Romanian name for
Dragon. Vlad III was given the name Dracula,
meaning "son of Dracul, or son of the dragon".
Vlad III Dracula was one of the most
notorious leaders in history. After his death, he
was dubbed with the name Vlad Tepes, which
means Vlad the Impaler.

3. Dracula's supposedly excessive cruelty to
his enemies gave him a reputation that kept his name
prominent in history. Vlad Tepes was famous for
impaling his victims and displaying the impaled dead
like a forest of corpses, with the leaders on a higher
stake than their soldiers.
Vlad Tepes and his brother Radu cel
Frumos, were given to the Ottoman sultan in 1442 as
hostages when their father made a treaty with the
Ottomans. For the next several years, Vlad Tepes was
trained in warfare and horseback riding. He was given
education in logic, learned the Quran and was taught
the Turkish language, which he became fluent in. He
was instructed to become familiar with the literature of
the Turks.
After his father, Vlad II, and his brother,
Mircea II, were brutally murdered, Vlad Tepes was
installed on the throne by the Ottomans when they
invaded Wallachia. The term of this reign did not last
very long, but he ruled again in 1456-1462, and yet
again in 1476.

4. Vlad Tepes wasn’t the nicest guy,
but he was also a ruler during a turbulent time
in history. Romanians view him as a national
hero for successfully defending the country
from thieves, helping restore order to the land,
and even successfully defending against
Turkish invaders who feared his methods of
impalement.
The Turkish empire at the time was
a big threat to all of Europe, and Vlad
Tepes( Vlad the Impaler’s) r—was recognized
as a hero in many other European countries,
with the king of Hungary, Sigismund of
Luxemburg, knighting Vlad Tepes into the
Order of the Dragon for protecting Europe on
the battlefield.
That was just the tip of the iceberg
though, with princes from Genoa to Germany
—and even the pope—praising Vlad Tepes.
.
.

5. For Romanian Orthodox Christians in
the Byzantine tradition, Dracula was a hero who
held back the invading Ottoman armies longer
than most leaders managed to do. He was a
Christian hero, in spite of his sadism toward his
own people. Of course for the Ottomans he was
a barbarian, who was attacking the fringes of
their civilization. It's very interesting to see him
from all these points of view.
Nobody believed, in Dracula's lifetime
or in many centuries after his lifetime, that he
was a vampire. That connection--putting the
Dracula name on a vampire--was completely
invented by Bram Stoker, in his 1897 novel
"Dracula." But there was, and still is in places,
this very strong Eastern European belief in
vampires.
The vampire is an incarnation of evil in
East European folklore, and can be opposed
only by a mixture of rituals, some of which are
Christian and some of which probably pre-date
Christianity.

6. Bram Stoker( Irish) based his novel
Dracula on the real life historical figure Vlad Tepes.
Although there is no evidence that Vlad the Impaler
was a real vampire, it’s fun to stretch the imagination
a bit. At the same time, vampire stories have been a
part of the myths and folklore of Romania for many
centuries, and Bram Stoker likely came across these
myths while doing the background research for his
novel. That research did NOT include actually
visiting Transylvania or any part of Romania to get
the real story on Vlad the Impaler.
The Romanians weren’t quite aware of
what these visitors were referring to, but quickly
realized that there was a fledgling tourism
opportunity. They created tourist sites and guided
tours to sate the west’s hunger for all things Dracula.
Even if these tourist creations were a bit tacky and
contrived, they only helped cement the legacy of
vampires in Romania
.

7. The Dracula legend was known for
centuries in Eastern Europe through folk songs and
epic poetry. It was reintroduced in its new
supernatural form by Hollywood.
After the fall of communism, the
Romanian people became aware of the novel
Dracula that was and still is popular in the west.
American and British tourist showed up wanting to
see the sites where Dracula lived and did all his evil
deeds.
Now Romanians are very aware of
Dracula because he's become a major export and a
tourist attraction. For some Romanians that's a
discouraging thing, but for others it's a way to attract
western tourists. The historical Dracula is a very
complicated figure
Many Romanians are proud of Dracula as
a national hero.

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TEACHER LUMINITA -MARIA CUCEU
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